Wool-drier



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.A

(No Model.) I

v D. H. RICE.

WOOL DRIER.

Patented Api'. 21, 1885.

Wmeeeee 7km i;

N. PETERS. Fhcwlmugnpher, washington. EA c.

(No Model.) 2 Sheets-#Sheet 2.

D. H. RICE.

WOOL DRIEB. No. 316,060. Patented Apr. 21, 1885.

ooooooo "OOQQQQQ o'o'oooo "f3 njmooooo ,boooooo Wxeeeee Km @kei N, PETERSA Phomfumagmynr, wasmngmn. D. CA

Saurus DAVID HALL RICE, OF LOWELL, ASSIGNOB TO C. G. SARGENTS SONS, OF GRANITEVILLE, M ASSAOHUSETTS.

.WOOL-DENER.

SPECIFICATION forming part. of Letters Patent No. 316,060, dated April 2l, 1885.

Application filed June 5, 1884. (No model) T all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DAvrD HALL Bron, of the city of Lowell, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for Drying Fibrous Substances, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to machines for drying wool and other fibrous substances; and it conio sists of certain new and useful combinations and arrangements of parts of such machines, and is an improvement upon the mechanism shown and described in the application of F. G. Sargent and A. C. Sargent, No. 90,856, for a patent for improvement in wool-driers, iiled April 6, 1883, all being substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

In the drawings, Figure l is a side view of said Sargents machine with myimprovement 2o attached, having the air -conduit partially broken away to show the arrangement of the steam-pipeinside. Fig. 2 is a central vertical transverse section of Fig. l.

A is the casing of the machine.

B D are the air-passages to carry the air into and through the machine.

E E are the drums which carry the perforated traveling apron which conveys the wool through the machine. Gis the feed-apron and 3o g a roller, between which and the drum E the wool enters the machine.

F is the endless traveling perforated apron. F is a stationary wire screen over the same.

C C' are the fans on the shaft a, supported in 3 5 bearings as a3 and driven by the pulley c2.

I is the damper for alternating the air-current.

b b are the openings into the air-conduit B, and d d is the steam-pipe in the conduit D for 4o heating the air as it enters the machine.

All of the foregoing parts of the machine, together with suitable apparatus for operatin g the damper I, are constructed, arranged, and operated substantially as shown and described in the application of Sargent, above mentioned.

In the operation of the above machine it is found that the traveling apron F having given to it a certain rate of speed suited to dry the 5o wool properly under ordinary atmospheric conditions, a change in the relative amount of moisture contained in the atmosphere of the apartment from which the induct D receives its supply of air prevents the wool being dried with that degree of exactness which is desira- 5 5 ble-that is, in order to prepare the wool in the best manner it is never dried -so as to expel all the moisture possible, but a certain amount of dampness is always left in the fiber to .facilitate its subsequent working, and the 6o nearer to that exact condition it is dried the better. If the air comes into the induct-pipe D in too warm and moist a state, it is found to have taken up so much vapor that the heat of the steampipe d does not and cannot expand it sufficiently to absorb the proper quantity of moisture per cubic foot to properly dry the wool, while if it enters the conduit D in too dry and cold a state it dries the wool so much when heated by pipe d that the fiber 7o does not subsequently work well. It is to overcome these difficult-iesthat my improvement is made.

I extend and prolong the air-induct upward and outward a suflicient distance to permit of 7 5 the introduction into it of a cold-water pipe, a4, which is coiled, so as to present a sufficient surface of it to the iniiowing air to reduce it a certain amount in temperature before it passes onward to the steam-pipe d. Below the coil 8o y of pipe a, I place a drip pan or trough of metal, a', which communicates with the outside of the conduit D by a drip-pipe. Thus the moisture condensed from the intlowing current of air by the cold-water pipe a4 is con- 8 5 ducted away and the air reaches the steampipe d in a suitable condition to be expanded by its heat and absorb moisture from the wool.

' YIn operating my improvement I take the air into the conduit D directly from the room 9o in which the machine is placed, and I keep the temperature of the room at the lowest con` stant state which the continual discharge of the warm air saturated with moisture from the drier will permit of. I then arrange the amount of exposed surface of the Coldwater pipe a* so as to condense a given amount of moisture out of the air in its passage over the pipe. I

-further regulate the amount of exposed surface of the steam-pipe d to heat and expand Ioo this dried air to a certain known point; and I also regulate the speed of thetraveling perforated apron F to carry the Wool through the machine at a given rate of speed. I am thus enabled to dry the ber substantially to a predetermined point, and discharge it Afrom the machine in the best condition.

Heretofore in machines for drying lumber, grain, and other substances a drying-chamber has been combined With an air-conduit containing a cold Water or air condenser, and suitable heating apparatus for heating the air before the same is forced or enters into the drying-chamber, and this improvement is distinguishable from such mechanism in containing suitable mechanism for transporting the ber into the drying compartment and exposing it lfor a predetermined period of time only to the action of the currents of air, which is believed to 'be novel in its operation, as hereinbefore stated.

It is evident that the arrangement ofthe various parts of the drying-machine may be va ried considerably, provided the essential features of the air-induct, the cold-water pipe,

the steam-pipe, an air-blast or Vdraft-fan, and a traveling perforated apron are kept in substantially the same relation to each other-as, for instance, my improvement may be applied to the drying-machine shown in the application of said F. G. Sargent and A. C. Sargent, No. 74,069, filed October 12, 1882.

NVhat I claim as neu7 and of my invention 1s l. In a ber-drying machine, the combination ofthe air-conduit D, the cold-Water pipe a4, the steam-pipe cl, the fan, and the traveling perforated apron F, substantially as described. v

2. In a fiber-drying machine, the combination of the air-conduit D, the cold-Water pipe a, the steam-piped, the fan, suitable mechanism for giving an alternate or intermittent character to the blast of air passing through the traveling apron with the said apron, substantially as described.

DAVID HALL RICE. Witnesses:

WM. H. FINNEY, N. P. OOKINGTON. 

